Back
by vvavavoom
Summary: Edward always had such strong, mixed feelings about coming back to Resembool. For 503 Day 5 Prompt: Home.


Long train rides with children were never easy. They always had to pee or got hungry or threw a tantrum at the worst times. Traveling with three of them barely under five years old was almost impossible. Luckily, Edward and Winry were pros at it.

"Theo, if the ticket inspector sees you standing on the bench he's going to give us a talking to." Winry chastises, adjusting her grip on the sleeping baby in her arms. Their oldest son had his face pressed up against the train window, looking out at the changing scenery.

"Woah, we're going fast!"

Summer had just begun, and that meant that the Elric-Rockbell family would be migrating over to Resembool for the next three months. They used this time to visit Granny and escape the Rush Valley heat, which was remorseless. Also, it didn't hurt that Winry got a break from work. She's been running herself ragged trying to accommodate all her customers before leaving.

"Maybe if we had a private car, like I asked, we wouldn't have to worry about the ticket inspector yelling at us." She mused aloud, not directly addressing her husband, though he gets the message.

"Yeah, yeah, it's not my fault they were all reserved." He grouses. It's totally his fault. She asked him to buy the train tickets weeks ago and he forgot, as usual, and bought them last minute, forcing them to sit in an open car. Now the other passengers eye them if the kids or their parents got too loud.

"My butt's going to hurt after sitting on these uncomfortable benches."

Theo and Sarah share a laugh at the word butt, looking at their mother. Edward's busy trying to fold a piece of paper into a crane like Al had demonstrated to him for his daughter. His origami skills sucked ass, but they're getting better. He had to keep folding the paper over and over again and he was losing his patience. Sarah was watching him intently with her big blue eyes, trying to figure out how he did it.

The kids loved all the cool things their Uncle Al showed them, from alchemy, to martial arts, to the Xingnese he could speak. He was super cool. Not as cool as their dad, of course, but pretty high up there. They couldn't wait to see him soon.

"That's it!" Frustrated, Edward balls up the paper and gives up. He took his anger out on the failed design, crunching it up nice and good.

"Papa, I want a bird! That's not it!" Sarah whines.

"Sorry Bug, here's a turtle instead." He hands her the wad of paper. "I'll make you a crane later."

Not impressed with the 'turtle', Sarah pretends it's a bird and introduces it to her stuffed animal, playing make believe. Theo is still looking out the window, hypnotized by the scenery whizzing by, silently watching. And thankfully Allen is still snoozing on Winry's lap.

They won't arrive until early evening and there are still a couple hours to go. Ed and Winry look at each other, appreciating the moment of peace. The look in her eyes tell him how excited she is to be going back to Resembool, to see Granny. To see Al. His grin gets wider the longer they gaze at each other. He brings his foot up to knock against hers, and they gently play footsie. He's excited too, she can tell.

Suddenly their eldest interrupts the moment, turning to his mother, "Mom, I have'ta go potty." He says holding himself and squirming in his seat. "Bad."

"Ed?" Winry asks her husband who's already getting up.

"Alright buddy, let's go find the toilets." Theo hops from the bench and follows his father down the train car and out to the adjacent one.

Sarah is still babbling to her toy dog and Edward's paper creation, lost in her fantasy world. Winry looks down at her youngest baby. His cheeks are red and he's a bit sweaty from being on a hot train, but still knocked out. His mother was smart enough to give him a nice meal before the ride and rock him to sleep so he could go down for a long nap. That way he'd miss a good chunk of the trip and wouldn't fuss too much.

After a while, Ed and Theo come back from the restroom. Their son yells to his mom that his aim is getting better "I got it all in!" A couple passengers look over to the child loudly sharing his bathroom adventures, giving some choice looks at the family. Ed and Winry laugh and tell him to lower his voice.

"Yay!" Winry cheered softly, trying not to wake Allen, "I'm so proud of you!" She grins at her son who beams back.

They sit back on the bench and after a few minutes Theo asks, "How much longer?" He looks up from the window, bored of the scenery.

"About an hour and a half." His dad ruffles his hair, "Do you want to help me read?" Edward takes a book out of his suitcase, something about beginner's alchemy.

"Yeah!"

"Me too!" Sarah scrambles over to her father's other side, peering at the book in his lap.

Winry watched as Edward steadily explained to their kids what the alchemy book was about, pointing at the pictures and diagrams. They listened intently to him, nodding along when he asked if they understood. Winry figured most of this was going over their heads. They just enjoyed seeing their father speak so passionately about something and wanted to share that with him. She told Edward this once he got offended, saying they were soaking up all this knowledge and would retain it for future use to be alchemical geniuses. It was sweet though, how Ed and the kids humored each other with the idea that they were _actually_ learning about alchemy.

Allen stirred in her arms, waking up and rubbing his eyes. "Hey, sleepyhead." Winry greeted him. "Did you have a nice nap?" His blue eyes peered at her sleepily as he sucked his pacifier. Still laying in her arms, he looks around the train car, curiously soaking in the new scenery. When he sees his dad and his siblings he twists in her arms, trying to reach out to them with his chubby little hands.

"Dah!" He squeals, getting Ed's attention.

"Hey! Look who's up!" Ed reaches out and takes him from Winry and bounces him up and down. Allen was now fully alert, laughing at his dad, his wide grin causes his binky to fall out of his mouth. Ed's got the baby standing in his lap as he blows air in his face causing him to erupt in delicious baby giggles. Sarah joins in and plays with her little brother, showing him her stuffed dog and then taking him away before he could snatch it. Theo grabs the discarded alchemy book and continues to pretend to read and look at the alchemy symbols, ignoring his families play time.

"Mama," Sarah says thoughtfully, looking up at Winry, "I wanna 'nother baby."

Both parents immediately look at each other in surprise. "But we already have Allen." Winry says, "Why do you want another one?"

"Cause! I wan' a girl!" Their daughter says seriously, eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't know Sara—"

"Maybe someday soon." Ed cuts in, winking at his daughter.

"Edward!" His wife scolds, "You can't just make these decisions by yourself!"

Grinning back at her he turns Allen so she's facing his big blue eyes and chubby cheeks. "Oh, come on Win, we can't stop at three! Look at how cute our babies are!"

Dammit. Their babies _are_ the cutest. She sighs in defeat when Allen gurgles, almost saying 'Mama', "Well besides, Sarah, even if we did have another baby, Mama can't choose if it's a boy or a girl."

All Sarah heard was 'another baby'. "Yay!"

"I don't want another baby! We have a lot of babies with Sarah and Allen!" Theo complains.

"'M not a baby!" Sarah retorts, "I'm a big girl!"

"Are too!" He sticks his tongue out.

"Am not!"

"Stop it!" Winry reprimands. "You're both acting like babies." One hard look from Winry and they immediately cease. Ed wishes he had that kind of control over his kids.

The family settles down, Theo and Sarah reluctantly sharing the alchemy book and Edward entertaining the baby. Winry decided to take a little cat nap since no one needed her attention at the moment.

She leaned her head against the window and nodded off. She wasn't sure how long she was out before she was disturbed by somebody crawling over her.

"Sarah! Leave her alone!" she hears her husband whisper harshly.

Her hair gets tugged and Winry opened her eyes to see her daughter inches from her face peering into her eyes. "Mama, I'm hungry." Sarah whispers.

"Mmh, Sarah I was sleeping." Winry mumbles.

"Hey, I told you not to wake her up you little stink." Edward reprimands his daughter.

Sarah turns and gives him an annoyed look that says, 'butt out'. Damn, she sure gets a real attitude when she's hungry and that face surely reminds him of somebody...

Turning back to her mom Sarah whines, "Papa ate all the snacks." Pushing her bottom lip out.

"That was Theo! And you said you didn't want any!" Edward defends himself and turns to his son for backup but all he gets is a shrug.

Winry sits up, "Don't worry, we're almost there. Just a little longer, Baby." She smooths Sarah's hair back. Unfortunately, that wasn't the answer her daughter was looking for. Huffing, Sarah forces her way in between Winry and the window so she can turn her back on her family who betrayed her in her time of need. She furrows her brow while clutching her toy with her whole body.

Rolling her eyes Winry asks, "What time is it?"

Balancing the baby on his knee, Edward fishes his watch out of his pocket. "It's almost six. We should be arriving any minute now."

"Ooh, you hear that, Sarah? Any minute now." Winry tickles her daughter's sides and she flinches out of her touch, still angry at her parents for not feeding her. Edward snorted, she definitely got that from him.

Excited again, Theo presses his whole face against the train window. There were long stretches of farmland and mountains framing the background. Some of his favorite memories were in Resembool. Like swimming in the lake and watching fireworks on the grassy hills and eating Granny's delicious cooking. Not that his mom's cooking wasn't good, but his Granny always gave him an extra biscuit at breakfast or let him try the fried meatballs before she added the red sauce or pretends not to see when he picks off a piece of the apple pie crust while it's cooling.

"Look! I can see Granny's house from here!" Theo points out the window.

"Where?" Sarah asks, forgetting her hunger and her grudge.

"Right there, see?" They're both trying to make out a tiny house amongst the field of green.

Edward always had such strong, mixed feelings about coming back to Resembool. So many things have happened here. This is where Hohenheim left them. And where Mom died and is buried. Where he and Al committed human transmutation. Where he met Teacher, and Roy, and Riza. Where he kept coming back to after getting the shit beaten out of him. Where he was pieced together after falling apart. But, Resembool is where he and Al found a home after everything. Where Al got his strength back. Where Winry and he started their relationship. Where they got married. Where their kids were born.

It's not so much the feeling of coming home anymore. Resembool isn't home. It hasn't been for a long while now. No, home is his kids running to greet him when he walks through the door. It's Allen's cries when he wants his father to rock him to sleep. It's seeing his brother's face after so long, growing into a man. It's Winry and him, curled on the couch together after a long day, just enjoying each other's company. Home is his family. It always was.

The train lets out a loud whistle as it slows down into the station, breaking Ed from his thoughts. There weren't many passengers disembarking here, Edward was pretty sure they were the only ones.

"Alright crew!" Ed hops up. "Let's hit the road." The kids clamber down from their seats.

They gather all their belongings and step off the train together. Edward counts heads to make sure they didn't miss anyone. Everyone's present and accounted for. "I have to talk to the station master about getting a cart for our luggage." He hands his wife their youngest baby. "Why don't you guys go ahead, I'll catch up."

"We can wait a couple minutes," Winry bounces the baby who was tired of being carried and wanted to be let down. She gives him a smile and Ed's mouth turns dry. "We'll go with you, right kids?" Sarah whines again about being _very_ hungry and Theo complains that he wants to go to Granny's already.

He grins at his family, "Alright, then, come on!" And scoops up Sarah before she can throw a tantrum on the platform.

"Maybe Mrs. Collette has some candy for you." Hoping that would keep their kids from tearing the station apart. "But only if you behave." Winry warns, coolly.

They linger in the office a little longer than planned. Mrs. Collette coos over the kids, pinching their cheeks and making funny faces at Allen saying how adorable the kids are. Theo didn't appreciate that at all and gave her a stink eye for it but didn't say anything lest his mom gets angry and makes him apologize.

Sarah though, gobbles it up. She's being extra cute and smiley as Mrs. Collete gives them each a piece of sticky taffy. Allan gets jealous at his brother and sister's treats and starts squawking, opening his mouth for a bite.

"Thanks Mrs. Collette, see you around!" Ed waves to the older woman. Allan imitates him, flourishing his tiny little hand too as they walk out of the station.

They trekked up to the yellow house on the hill. Sarah happily chomping on her taffy on Ed's shoulders while Theo had already swallowed his.

Once the house is in view Theo runs as fast as his small legs can take him and Sarah wiggles to get down too, so she can follow her brother.

Granny is standing on the porch, smoking her pipe, disposed to greet the young family. Ed and Winry wave at her from down the road, huge smiles on their faces.

It was good to be back.

"You got something good cooking for us Granny?" Edward bounds up the stairs. "We're starving!"

"Heh, what's the fun in a meal if you're not there to help out?" She puffs out a long drag of smoke.

After play time, dinner, and bath time the older Elric kids are wiped out. Winry tucks them into bed and slowly closes the door to their room knowing they'll sleep good tonight. Padding over to her own room she finds Ed and the baby on the bed. He's tickling the boy's belly, relishing in his peals of laughter. "Come on, I'll give you anything you want, as long as you say 'Dada'!"

"If you keep that up he'll never go down." She says, getting into bed with them.

"Nah, he's just like his old man, loves to roughhouse before bed." He wiggles his eyebrows at her, trying to look suggestive.

Snorting, Winry pulls the baby up to her chest and pulls her nightshirt up so he can nurse. He latches on eagerly and eats with gusto, grunting with the effort. None of their kids ever had a problem with small appetites. She guesses she has to thank Ed for that too.

They curl up together and watch their son eat, amazed by his little nose and his little hands and his wispy hair. He stares back at them, studying them just as intently. Eventually, his little blue eyes droop and he falls asleep. Ed takes him to the old crib in the kid's room that's been used by so many of them he can't keep count. He kisses his soft little head, then Sarah's, then Theo's.

"You know Winry, another kid wouldn't be so bad." Edward muses as he walks back into their room and settles into bed. "It would be a disservice to this country, nay, this world if we don't have more kids."

"Oh really? And why is that?"

"Because! Our kids are the best!" he puffs out his chest.

Laughing, Winry turns on her side, facing the former alchemist. "Alright, I'm game."

"Really?" His eyes are wide, "You want to?"

"Sure, the world needs more Rockbell's." She shrugs trying to keep a giant smile from erupting on her face.

Edward pulls her closer and kisses her softly. "Maybe we can try for one now?" They let themselves get lost in the hot, summer night.


End file.
